(Eagle News) — Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday slammed the issuance of a warrant of arrest against transport leader George San Mateo.
In a statement, Poe said that while she respects the “independence of the court,” the timing of the arrest warrant issued by Judge Don Ace Mariano Alagar of the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 43 was “suspect and casts doubt on the intent of the complainant in filing such charges.”
The warrant signed on December 1 was in connection with a rally the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide, which San Mateo leads, held in February in protest of the government’s public utility vehicle modernization program.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, which acts as the complainant in the case, said the rally that left thousands stranded was a violation of the Public Service Act.
The QC MeTC set bail for San Mateo at P4000.
“The PUV modernization program should be borne from a democratic process and not from underhanded tactics. After all, it is through the labor and industry of these jeepney drivers and operators that our commuters are able to travel from one point to another despite the failure of the government to provide better mass transportation options,” Poe said.
She added that in the first place, “it is unclear based on the cited section of the Public Service Act what exactly San Mateo violated.”
“Everyone has the right to peaceably assemble….If holding a strike is tantamount to a violation under any memorandum of the LTFRB, then the proper penalty should have been a fine or suspension or cancellation of their franchise, not threatening their leader with incarceration,” she said.
“All told, this confusion is a manifestation that the PSA has to be revisited and studied carefully to result in a more balanced interplay between public service, on the one hand, and the right to peaceably assemble, on the other hand,” she added.